I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. With the elder retreat last weekend and then being out of town for the following three days, I've had to push the blog aside to catch up with more pressing ministry matters.
On retreat, our elders enjoyed hours of stimulating discussion on evangelism, shepherding the congregation, training leaders, and plans for the future. You'll hear some of the fruit of this discussion in coming months. [We also squeezed in some competitive pool and ping pong.]
On vacation, our family enjoyed worshiping last Sunday at New Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Rockford. I had heard a recording of a sermon by their pastor, K. Edward Copeland, from the audio of The Gospel Coalition conference in April. Wouldn't you know it, the church had a guest speaker preach that morning, but we did get to hear some of Pastor Copeland's heart as he gave an exhortation to the men of the church on Father's Day.
Yes, New Zion is an African-American congregation, and we were blessed to witness a vibrant congregation of about our size that is worshiping and serving in a challenging area of Rockford. They are indeed faithfully preaching the transforming message of the gospel. Visiting the church was also an opportunity to expose our boys to a different expression of the Body of Christ than what we find in Mt. Morris (last census: 96% white).
I was back in the office on Wednesday morning (early, for the Mt. Morris men's prayer meeting at 6:00 a.m.) and looking forward to being back in the pulpit Sunday. I'll put the sermon text within a follow-up post in a moment.
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